"Lady Elaine! Please come back! The ball is today, are you simply not going to be dressed!?" My maidservant screamed at me as I ran across the grassy garden, barreling towards the tall gates of the manor. I reached down to a bed of flowers and scooped up the prettiest ones I could find in the hurry I was in. "I shall come back in time, you have my word!" was all I shouted before I opened the gate and ran out.

It was a week over my sixteenth birthday, and today happened to be the day my debutante ball was scheduled. This ball would introduce me to all the important people in the high society of London, some being part of my parents' circle of close friends as well. It's not that I wasn't excited over the prospect of dressing like a fairy princess and having an entire ball fawn over you for an entire night, but I needed to do something first. Something that would truly prepare me for my introduction to London, to potential suitors, and to the world itself.

I came across the cemetery, the gloomy looking clouds all congregating here, as if they sensed the sadness of it all. I trudged past all of the grim-looking headstones, until I found a rather large headstone with a wreath of flowers crowned over it. Engraved on the headstone was the words:

HERE LIES LADY CELESTE MARIGOLD

BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER

I laid the flowers gently down on the base of the stone, stepping back to admire the picture. "Today is the day. Today I will try to fill your shoes. To be just as graceful, as poised, as perfect as you once were." I stroked the headstone with the back of my hand. I reached behind the stone and grabbed what I've known to be there since I was 7 years of age.

I held a beautiful hatbox in my hand, pink with white lace bordering it. I opened it and saw the most stunning headpiece - a straw bonnet with pink lace on it and flowers covering the entirety of the right side of the hat. Attached was a thin pink string that was to go under my chin and keep the bonnet in place.

It was the very same hat that my mother had worn the day of her debutante ball. She said that wearing it during the day had given her the courage to be the perfect lady that she knew she had to become that night. It was her last wish that this hat be passed on to me and worn on the day of my debutante ball.

I picked the hat up from out of the box and saw a note flutter down to the ground, escaping from inside the bonnet. I picked it up, opened it, and read it aloud to myself:

Take care of her, my dear, and be happy.

A simple note with not many words, but even looking at her handwriting was enough to bring me to tears. I clenched the note in one hand, the bonnet resting in the other. "I will, mother." I promised.

As I started heading back to the manor, hat on my head, I automatically felt an air of confidence exuding from me. Was it truly such a magical hat that would change my life in an instant? Or was it the remembrance of my mother that inspired me? Whatever it was, I sure was enjoying it.

However, my head must have been held a little too high, since my vision was impaired and I couldn't see how hard I bumped into the person coming my way in front of me. I almost fell to the ground, but felt a strong hand snake around my waist and prevent my fall. I tilted my bonnet up out of my face and met eyes with the most handsome creature I had ever seen in my life.

His skin was creamy white, which perfectly complemented his eyes, which were a beautiful color of cobalt blue. His dark, brown hair was full and voluminous, a little piece of his hair curling against his forehead in a charming way. His pink lips looked so inviting, which was a completely inappropriate thing for a girl my age to even dream of. I could have stared at him for hours.

"I am so terribly sorry, young miss. Are you alright?" He asked, his voice deep and welcoming. We stood in this stance for far too long than appropriate, so we quickly regained our footing and stood at a comfortable space away from each other. "Why yes, I am perfectly fine, thank you. I am so sorry that I so violently bumped into you that way. My head was in the clouds." I apologized profusely. His smile nearly melted me right there on the pavement. "Think nothing of it." He stopped, his smile falling, and his eyes started studying me fiercely. Strangely, I didn't even feel the tiniest trace of discomfort.

"Lady Elaine Marigold? Is it you?" I nodded. "Why, yes! Have we met before?" His dashing smile returned to his handsome face. "Yes! Well, no, but, oh-" He suddenly turned into a nervous wreck, searching for the correct words. "I am Everett Charles, son of William Charles. I believe our parents are excellent friends." "Oh yes, William Charles! The lawyer my father holds in such high esteem. Why, he has handled all of our family finances and other trials for the entirety of my life. I never knew he had a son!" Everett laughed charmingly. "I had seen you only a handful of times. My father and I would visit your father at your manor on rare occasions. You would usually be walking around upstairs, but sometimes spying on us through the cracks in the banister. Those visits were always my favorite. You were so entertaining in your unpredictability."

I felt the blood in my cheeks flame up listening to his detailed recollection of all the times he had seen me during his visits. It touched me that he remembered me at all. If only I had known that we would meet like this in the future one day. "If our fathers are such good friends, then I trust you have received an invitation to my debutante ball today." If he hadn't, I would make sure that he would. "Oh yes, we did. Cleared my entire schedule to make it. I wouldn't miss it for the world." Everett chuckled a little. "I had so looked forward to meeting you properly for the first time. I never would have imagined we would have ended up meeting at a chance like this."

All I could do was smile. "Me neither, but I am very glad we did." I stepped closer towards him. Everett's eyes twinkled with excitement. "Perhaps you would be so gracious as to save me a dance tonight?" I nodded, smiling warmly. "Only if you would be so kind as to walk me back to the manor. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind if such a well-meaning gentleman as yourself were to walk their lost daughter back to her home." Everett smiled and nodded, extending his arm out for me. I wrapped my arm around his, resting it comfortably on him.

"Shall we?" Everett smiled. "Lead the way."